The Motherless Oven

Gr 9 Up—In a bizarre, topsy-turvy world where children make parents, and knives rain from the sky, Scarper Lee's deathday looms before him like a ticking time bomb. The teen has resolved himself to his fate—even if his hairdryer mother and makeshift wind-powered brass sculpture father haven't quite yet—when new girl Vera Pike arrives and throws a wrench into the status quo. When his father disappears (though he's usually chained in the shed), Scarper, Vera, and new friend Castro Smith (a boy who speaks in lucid riddles and has a knack for repairing kitchen gods) escape their daily routine to find him. During their journey, they face a field of abandoned mother creatures, a gaggle of elderly police officers, and their own mortality. In an Odyssey-like quest, the trio searches for the fabled Motherless Oven, where humans were supposedly first fashioned, and hopefully the answer to all of their prayers. Heady topics such as existentialism, destiny, religion, and love make this a quirky title rife for discussion. Davis's dark and shadow-filled art appropriately mindbends and illuminates the text. The variation in panels quickens and pulls back the pace in this enigmatic tale, with the right amount of imagery left open for interpretation. For fans of Farel Dalrymple's The Wrenchies (First Second), David Almond's novels, and teens who enjoy graphic novels that are disturbing and beautiful all at once.—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal